It’s turned into a session of musical improvisation, fritz breaks out of his concentration to smile and wave at us. “iain drank all our milk today, he’s a partyanimal that way”. they’re talking now, shaking hands, fritz says thanks. applause. then he, too, drips over the same cable and pulls down the mixing desk. crash. but that’s no longer part of the performance.

22.10 - daniel

I have to take a short break, will be back soon…

22.08 - daniel

Hannah describes the sound he makes as “open mouth humming”. thanks, I was reaching the limits of my vocabulary.

22.07 - daniel

Tim gets up to the mic.

22.07 - daniel

Everything back up working again. Fritz is using something like a small baton on the piano.

22.05 - daniel

some audience member has just tripped over a cable, taking down a small mixing desk.

22.04 - daniel

Iain on the piano. Fritz has attached some application to the piano and makes scratching sounds. He has handed me his wallet.

22.02 - daniel

Fritz is considering doing the “Show us your dark side”-thing. “Who has evil thoughts?”, he asks. There’s now a “workshop-sized” group of people in the Cwtch. “We need more drinks”.

21.59 - daniel

The next song is dedicated to Catrin Rhys, I think. A Welsh Happy Birthday.

21.56 - daniel

The piano is moved back into the Cwtch.

21.55 - daniel

Applause. Is it Karaoke now?

21.54 - daniel

guitar playing and singing about to finish – no, he keeps going.

21.53 - daniel

“does anybody want to do karaoke”? the people in the bar are asked individually.

21.52 - daniel

dancing.

21.49 - daniel

Now there’s someone with an acoustic guitar. The piano has been moved again so I can’t see the poster which might tell me who it is.

21.47 - daniel

He’s about to hit something with a hammer, a piece of charcoal. Because I couldn’t quite see it the action was explained to me as follows: Charcoal – hammer – buf.

21.45 - daniel

Phil is now doing something with a piece of paper.

21.44 - daniel

Quite a few people still holding on to the string. Piano again.

21.43 - daniel

drums through the sound system.

21.42 - daniel

Chad’s doing his “things used to be better” number from the “Farewell Cardiff” show…Somebody’s taking over, are they now passing the mic around? no, it’s finished.

21.40 - daniel

Long piece of string held across the bar by about 3 dozen people, some of them still sitting at their tables.

21.39 - daniel

Next song by Kathryn. Fritz is waving a piece of red carpet behind her. She’s finished. Applause. Some weird sounds through the speakers. It’s Fritz: “If everybody get a piece of string, there’s a chance that Bruce Springsteen’s coming here and touches your hair.” I think that’s what he said.

21.35 - daniel

Fritz asks everyone to shake somebody’s hands and make friends.

21.35 - daniel

cheering, shouting etc.

21.34 - daniel

I think I’m seeing tears in the eyes of some people.

21.32 - daniel

applause. I think some of it coming from the soundsystem. I think James Tyson is next…yes!

21.31 - daniel

creep is of course the title of the song, I didn’t mean to call anyone a creep.

21.30 - daniel

some announcement I can’t hear. che starts another song. creep.

21.28 - daniel

that’s No. 5…

21.28 - daniel

che is singing summertime, a capella.

21.27 - daniel

applause.

21.27 - daniel

they’re moving the piano back as james is playing so he can use a mic, but the song might not be long enough.

21.25 - daniel

james now on the piano, singing.

21.24 - daniel

Martin just won. He got a hug from a guy with a Star Wars towel on his head.

music from the speakers, electric guitar, but every few second it stops. people dance, then stop dancing, then dance again.

21.17 - daniel

They’ve started again.

21.17 - daniel

They’ve stopped.

21.16 - daniel

At the moment it’s just Iain on the piano. Some people are tentatively making some dance moves.

21.16 - daniel

To contextualise this a bit – Iain and Fritz have in the last couple of days been working in the Cwtch space by the bar, and have asked people what they’d like to contribute to their party-themed event.

21.14 - daniel

I think we’re coming to No. 3 – James.

21.13 - daniel

Marc is taking off his shirt, waving it over his head, shaking his belly.

21.12 - daniel

People start clapping, Fritz is mcing.

21.12 - daniel

There is some cheerful pop tune coming out of the speakers now. Pianoplaying continues. Hannah is dancing – so we’re probably at No. 2 now.

21.11 - daniel

There is a poster attached to the piano with what looks like a line-up for the event. There are 10 handwritten entries on there, starting with 1. Fritz + Iain. That’s probably where we are at the moment.

21.08 - daniel

People have gathered around the piano, others are just continuing with their drinks and conversations.

21.07 - daniel

Iain is playing some monotonous notes on the piano.

21.06 - daniel

We’ve been welcomed to Werkdock and been told to enjoy ourselves. A piano has been moved into Chapter’s bar area. Anticipation.